Anyone read the Paul Dix book (When the Adults Change)?

[JamDoughnuts]

I found it quite horrifying and I'm really worried that it is being so heavily promoted.

I've worked in 'that' area of town for ten years now and I completely understand that relationships can make or break it. BUT that does not mean that there are no boundaries and that's all I was getting from that book.

I'm feeling totally jaded atm and it just seems the icing on the cake- bad behaviour is our fault because we've not got a 'relationship' with the child, not the fault of lazy parents or the impact of poverty.

There is informal and there is grammatically incorrect!

I used a Bennett tip today and it worked, so I’m pro Tom at the moment!

I think he is following the example of Shakespeare and Chaucer, piggy stroppyeditor.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/the-us-has-gotten-this-word-back-and-the-uk-probably-will-too/

Yes, nonon with the Tom-love! Although commiserations if you are back at work!

Oh I know it is older English but we did ditch it here, like color and favorite...he just appears half educated when he writes it. I'll let him off...just this once.

I've just done the first week back Noble, summer's all finished here Tried some more tips later in the week but did come up against a problem - the children ignoring me when I used my carefully planned consequence!

I work in an international school. We used to be all lovely and small, and our behaviour management plan was "there are 15 students. It's not that hard".

We have over a hundred now, so, what, the size of one year group in a secondary back home? I came back from maternity to a Mad Max style wasteland.

I think this book is great! Yes, it's more geared for PRU and sometimes primary but I took the essential message to be:

• Reduce/consolidate the rules to something everyone can remember and reference
• All the adults need to enforce the standards, no walking past because you CBA or are too important
• Drop all the bureaucratic byzantine systems that serve to give senior management something to do so they can avoid being on the corridors
• Stop rolling out system after system without buy in
• Get students to take personal responsibility by forming proper relationships with them

I don't like the handshake thing. Not everyone can handle getting up close and personal, let alone before every lesson. I also don't think it's a good look to be alcogelling my hands like I'm Robbie Williams at NYE.

(Our intake is rather privileged, though. I can see how something more in the line of what Michaela are doing, in the UK. Our students already respect us, and value education, they're just rowdy teens who need someone to jolly them along.)

Regarding the easy-to-understand rules: a long time ago I took my QTS skills test in a room hired for the purpose in an FE college.

Above the board were three laminated sheets of A3. These bore the following rules:

NO FIGHTIN
NO SWEARIN
NO SPITTIN

nice!

Oh nonon you have my sympathy to be back!

re children ignoring you - what consequence were they ignoring? Like moving seats? I love the broken record for that - just keep telling them to move in a bored voice until the whole class gets fed up and goes ‘FFS Johnny just move seats will you?’. I sometimes start counting how many times I’ve said it ‘4th time of asking, Johnny, please sit here.....5th time, Johnny, move to this seat....’ Don’t think I’ve ever reached 10. Obviously if it were Michaela they’d have been bounced from the classroom but my school is nothing like that.

Interrupting me (silly noises), told time to stop as need to listen to me, didn't, told would have to move to seat x if it happened again, happened again, asked to move, wouldnt, warned he'd have to work with another teacher if he didn't move, still wouldn't, sent to other teacher but wouldn't go, called hod who said to send to her room, he wouldn't go, she called deputy who eventually got him out. Absolute drama and all over what? I couldn't ignore it as he was too loud and too close.
He will be the same next week, was the same last year.

I thought Paul Dix’s book could be summed up in a paragraph. I’m annoyed I bought it.

There’s an American, Louann Johnson, who was the actual teacher from Dangerous Minds, who has written excellent books. One is “one part textbook 2 parts love” - sounds wishy washy but it’s not - really great.

I was also one of the anonymous contributors from the TES staffroom that featured in Tom Bennett’s first book. (Different username though). I think he’s great. Especially his focus on “what about the victims” when there is so much focus on never excluding.

I've read the whole book--a couple of chapters twice. I will read it again and again, as my school is likely to implement much of it. I have also heard Paul 'preach', like a good old fashioned evangelical, at an event I was recording. I wasn't allowed to film him as he was 'under contract'. Cheers Paul! I am always wary of someone who can't give 'essential advice', as he sees it, for free.

I have to agree that consistency is the key. I have been preaching this for some time.

However, and this comes with reading the book, Paul himself admits that he spent a lot of time observing and studying closely con-men and tricksters around London.

He also states that teachers themselves need to be good con-artists in the class to mask their inner fears as the students will detect them. They will.

The problems with deception, lying and falseness is that eventually students and colleagues will see through it. Teenagers are pretty good at picking up on adults who lie. Overall, it’s easier to lie to adults than teens, as teens don’t need to kowtow and brown-nose to pick up a paycheck at the end of the month. As adults, we’ll believe anything at work because we need to pay bills. Teens don’t have these constraints.

At my place of work, I have been championing the idea that we should be honest, prepared and brave, rather than faking sincerity and deceiving students.

I am happy to discuss this with Paul at any time.

Tom Bennet is definitely on the cocky spectrum, at the severe end. It is his personality that helps with his classroom management, whatever he says about the start of his career. Also, how much teaching does he now do? It’s the relentlessness of day to day discipline that these gurus and tsars seem to forget, and that those of doing the job every day still don’t have the time to sit and consider like they do.

I really believe discipline is about being in a school for longer than a couple of years and learning the kids, and them learning you. But teachers don’t stay in post as long anymore, so the kids don’t have stability so no trust in their teachers.

Nice to see this thread being resurrected. As with a pp, I felt I’d wasted money on this book. There was an awful lot about Paul Dix and what he was like at school - sorry - who cares? The minute these people get on the speaking circuit they forget (if they ever really knew) the relentlessness of the job, day in, day out. The accountability and the sheer emotional drain on you leaves you precious little time and mental space to negotiate, cajole, persuade and pretend all day when frankly, a certain level of behaviour should be taken for granted. I’ve got time for kids who are genuinely struggling. I have less time and less patience for kids who need to buckle down and stop arguing the toss solely for shits and giggles.

But teachers don’t stay in post as long anymore, so the kids don’t have stability

This is especially true of heads. One good Ofsted and they’re off to the education authority or consultancy. Not hard to see why either.

His doctrine is flatly wrong, and damaging. Obviously this approach works best with some students. Try it out across a whole school and it’s just a big counselling house where nobody gets educated.

Tom Bennett’s book is brilliant.

I've met Tom Bennett, he's really very good.

He's trying to grasp the nettle of poor behaviour, which is a difficult and laudable thing.

I really rate Tom Bennett. His book and a training course with him (in my own time) pretty much saved me from quitting during my nqt year. I'm sorry that he's fallen out of favour in favour of Paul Dix. I like some of what Paul Dix says but I think you need to be a charismatic person who is naturally high status to make it work. We had Pivotal training from one of his team: The teacher was really charismatic and entertaining and exuded high status. I could happily listen to her for a three hour twilight. But I kept thinking that's why it works for you. I'm a drama teacher and also a total low status mouse by nature - and I think the best thing any teacher can learn is the simple tricks of how to play high status. I don't think natural high status players (which includes most tall broad men)even realise they do it. Maybe I'll set up a behaviour company to spread the word....

He is a typical know it all man who thinks his opinions and personal anecdotes should be implemented in all settings because he is so obviously right about everyone.

I believe in promoting good, positive, professional relationships, but there is a certain amount of basic respect that is not earned. It is polite and reasonable interactions with others in school. I don't need to waste the learning time of 29 other students by spending 12 minutes asking Child A about their new hair and what they thought of Love Island in the hope they don't tell me to fuck off later in the lesson.

There are many effective behaviour management strategies and I do agree with Dix that deescalation is important, but that is something that staff (as they gain experience and classroom confidence) will manage over time before a situation arises.

Expecting an NQT or a colleague who struggles with behaviour management to negotiate, beg and plead with students to meet even the most basic expectations is appalling. Telling them to ignore bad behaviour in order for the students to like them is also terrible advice.

Classroom management is an art and a craft that takes time to refine. Schools have over 1,000 pupils in and there needs to be some consistency with what is expected, not Mrs Brown expects us to show respect and enter quietly, be kind and polite and work hard, but Mr Smith lets us sit where we want and talk about the football before we maybe think about learning.

I'm not his number 1 fan.